After cheating accusations, officials consider using DNA testing
on livestock
With the constant hubbub over cheating in sports, it seemed as
if the San Benito County Fair was the last bastion of fair play and
honesty.
After cheating accusations, officials consider using DNA testing on livestock
With the constant hubbub over cheating in sports, it seemed as if the San Benito County Fair was the last bastion of fair play and honesty.
Think again.
For 25 years Mike O’Connell has seen a lot of animals come and go at the county fair, not all what they were billed to be. People have swapped animals for heftier ones, drugged them, altered ear tags and “jockeyed” winning livestock by buying a champ from one fair and putting him in another.
It seems like every year O’Connell’s livestock committee has to come up with new rules to thwart those who don’t want to play by them.
“Why do they want to cheat?” asked an exasperated O’Connell. “I’m afraid it’s gotten to that point because of the money. It’s sad that it’s come to that.”
This year some parents are squealing that the champion hog was not in one exhibitor’s possession long enough to qualify for entry into the local fair, though no one filed a complaint within 24 hours after judging, which is mandatory. Despite vehement denials of wrongdoing by the owners, others have complained mightily among themselves and offer up photographs of the two hogs, which seem to be identical in appearance down to a distinctive protrusion on a marking on the animal’s back. The rules state an animal must be in an exhibitor’s possession for 60 days to be eligible.
The latest furor weighs heavy on O’Connell, who is resigning as livestock superintendent this year as new rules are instituted to avoid future disputes such as this one.
“Around every corner someone slaps you down,” said O’Connell.
Several years ago, O’Connell and other livestock officials came up with the idea of tattooing animals with numbers by using a tool that punctures the animal’s skin and injects dye. When animals were entered into auction before the fair, they would get tattooed by fair officials and then weighed, then weighed again before judging.
“The day after we made that rule, someone was in my store buying a tattoo tool,” said O’Connell, who owns Rancher’s Feed. “So we said, ‘OK, let’s just use ear tags.’ The quote-unquote tamper proof ear tags. But you can tamper with them too.”
That’s what happened in the latest case that has aroused suspicion. Many people, including many fair officials, believe a hog that won at the state fair in Sacramento was also a winner in San Benito, in violation of the 60-day rule.
The latest conflict has resulted in yet another major rule change in an effort to stop the cheating.
“Next year they’re going to have to come down to Bolado 60 days before,” said swine chairman Curt Nelson. “That way more eyes than one are going to see them. In the past, some officials have swept it all under the carpet.”
Nelson has been swine chairman for only the past year, but in his 20 years of involvement with the fair’s livestock exhibitions, the worst chicanery, he says, has been the most recent.
“Ten years ago there were more honest people,” said Nelson. “Honest people know there are rules out there. But cheaters know the rules inside and out.”
They’re considering taking snout prints and even DNA – crime-fighting technology used to convict rapists and murderers.
Consider the fact that a regular market hog normally brings in only one third the price per pound as a champion with a ribbon. So a 240-pound grand champion hog can auction for $2,400 – or more — while a runner-up may bring in only $800.
But even more than the money is the prestige of being the best in a place where agriculture is still No. 1.
Nelson said the biggest form of cheating is a practice called “jockeying,” when an exhibitor buys a winning “jackpot” animal from another fair, dummies the bill of sale to reflect earlier ownership and exhibits him as a feeder animal. A jackpot or prospect animal that wins earns a champion ribbon and the exhibitor gets a small cash honorarium. The purpose of a jackpot exhibit is to showcase the breeder. As for the animal, instead of getting auctioned off for big cash and a trip to the slaughterhouse after winning, it gets to go back home with its owner. Supposedly.
“The ownership thing is the biggest key,” said Nelson. “People bounce the animals around for fairs, and our fair is last in the line in the season. It’s a constant problem, and sometimes it’s so blatant it’s sickening.”
For a while, fair officials thought ear tags would stop cheaters. Prior to this year’s fair Nelson traveled to the county’s farthest reaches to tag animals’ ears because owners complained over the hassle it would cause to bring them to Bolado Park to be tagged.
Because of this year’s hog flap, everyone will be required to show their future exhibit to officials at Bolado Park 60 days before judging, and fair officials will probably take DNA samples at that time.
Piglets have their ears notched for identification when they are born. But people have even tried to goof with that system, said Nelson, by notching the ears of full-grown hogs to alter their identification. A notch not fully healed is always a dead giveaway.
Then there’s the “lost” ear tag.
“Numerous animals came in with lost ear tags this year,” said Nelson. “But it can be another form of cheating.”
And it makes you wonder when that sheep with the lost ear tag ends up in the champion hunt.
As for coming up with safeguards against cheating, fair officials keep trying. But it has gotten to the point where, according to Nelson, officials will have to put a heavy foot down.
O’Connell thinks the best way to stop the complainers as well as the cheaters is to use the DNA samples, like the state fair does.
“All you do is take a hair sample with the root,” said O’Connell. “Then just store them away in a Ziploc baggie in a safe place. If there’s a question, then you test the sample.”
As he leaves office, he doesn’t like seeing where the once friendly competition is going.
“It’s becoming a bigger thing,” he said. “It would be so much easier if people were just honest.”
“It happens all over the state,” he concluded. “I really enjoy working with the kids. It would be great if every year we could just drop the parents off at the gate to the fair and just let the kids in to show their animals.”
